I have a mid 2011 Mac mini that starts "spinning the wheel" (replacing the mouse arrow) after about an hour of use. In short what happens is this:

- Everything works as usual but after one hour it starts ďspinningĒ the mouse and it doesnít react (I can move the mouse around but thatís it). It also stops reacting to remotes in eg. iTunes.

- When I force it to shut down and re-start the above repeats

It makes no difference I use it or it is just on with no programs running.

I have tried formatting the harddrive and re-install Mountain Lion but that doesnít help. I have also tested the memory by using it with one 4 GB memory block at a time. But still no luck.

It is equipped with 8 GB memory from Crucial and a 256 GB SSD disk also from Crucial. I am planning to test another SSD disc because it failed during the re-install but my local dealer says that SSD discís either work or they donít.

I hope that the two resets work for you. I also had a 2011 mini that I put a Crucial SSD in and had the exact same problem with the spinning beach ball. I tried and did update the firmware that was in the SSD and it helped a lot but still got beach ball about every 10 minutes for about 20 seconds.

I then changed the position of the SSD in the mini, same thing beach ball.
I then changed the connector for the hard drive, from a different supplier beach ball.
I then re installed the OS many times along the way, beach ball.
Sent for new memory and replaced what was in there with a different brand, beach ball.

Took the SSD out put in original hard drive ran fine, put the SSD in a dock, ran fine no beach ball.

Sold with original hard drive to a friend after telling him what happened with the SSD, running fine for 4 months, put the SSD in my MacBook Pro 2011 model, runs fine. Go figure!!

I hope that the two resets work for you. I also had a 2011 mini that I put a Crucial SSD in and had the exact same problem with the spinning beach ball. I tried and did update the firmware that was in the SSD and it helped a lot but still got beach ball about every 10 minutes for about 20 seconds.

I then changed the position of the SSD in the mini, same thing beach ball.
I then changed the connector for the hard drive, from a different supplier beach ball.
I then re installed the OS many times along the way, beach ball.
Sent for new memory and replaced what was in there with a different brand, beach ball.

Took the SSD out put in original hard drive ran fine, put the SSD in a dock, ran fine no beach ball.

Sold with original hard drive to a friend after telling him what happened with the SSD, running fine for 4 months, put the SSD in my MacBook Pro 2011 model, runs fine. Go figure!!

tom_d

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

I have borrowed a new SSD disk at work and will try to use it in the mini to see if it solves the problem.

You can check the console, by opening the Console application and reading the assorted logs.

SC

Thanks!

Looking at the logs didn't help much. I left the mini on during the day and as far as I can see from the log nothing has happened between the time I left for work until I came home and had to force the mini to shut down.

It may be that someone else can make more sense out of the log that I can.

It might also be worth keeping an eye on Activity monitor and see if you can spot any issues with CPU usage, Memory usages etc.

Thanks for your suggestions!

I will have the activity monitor running to see if can trace anything.

How do I check the console?

Thanks,
Mohano

I now had an eye on Activity monitor and for the most part only small things happended. The number of threads went from 301 to 417 and the number of processes from 71 to 74.

But about 10 minutes before it started spinning I noticed that some prosesses started to have a lot more activity and using more memory. I did not use the Mac at all it was just standing there with the Activity monitor running and no other programs.

I also know that some SSD's are just finicky. Have you updated the firmware in the SSD itself?

You mentioned that the original install failed, that tells me there may be some sort of issue or compatibility issue with that particular SSD. Can you put a regular drive in it or even boot from an external drive to see if that eliminates the problem?

I also know that after you do an OS install on an SSD that it "locks" sectors and re-installing won't change them. The only way to 're-format' a SSD is by booting from another disk (external/optical/etc) and using the SSD manufacturers software to re-initialize the disk.